queerkhmer reblogged
Not your usual Aww, An apprentice Eagle huntress and her Bird
A portrait of Annunska in 1767 - a serf and pupil of Countess Varvara Sheremeteva, who was part of one of the most influential noble family of the Russia at the time. Annunska is a Kalmyk person, who are Buddhists decedents of Oirat people from Central Asia and were part of the Mongol Horde that conquered Much of the Eurasian continent. Today, the Autonomous Republic of Kalmykia (a subject of the Russian Federation) is the only Buddhist region in what is considered European area. The Republic lies west of the Caspian Sea and north of the Caucasus mountains.